Raw Architecture Studio Shelters a Nanjing Flower Shop with a 10 m² Timber Canopy

Ten square meters is barely enough floor area for a closet. But on Ji'e Lane in Nanjing, Raw Architecture Studio has turned exactly that footprint into a piece of street infrastructure that does more work than most buildings ten times its size. Li Eaves, a flower and plant shop completed in 2024, is a timber canopy structure inserted beneath the balcony of a 1980s residential building. Its job is elemental: shade the plants from Nanjing's punishing summer sun, shelter passersby from rain, and give this fragment of sidewalk a reason to hold people's attention.

The name "Li Eaves," coined by Zhou Bo, references a nearly extinct piece of Chinese rural infrastructure: the bamboo-hat-shaped pavilion that once appeared every ten li (roughly five kilometers) along a road to give travelers respite. That lineage matters because it frames the project not as a shopfront renovation but as a public amenity that happens to sell houseplants. The distinction shapes every decision in the design, from the way the canopy extends over the sidewalk to the louvered panels that filter light for anyone who pauses underneath.

A Canopy That Claims the Street

The most assertive move here is the canopy's reach. The timber frame does not sit flat against the building; it pushes outward and angles down toward the street, creating a wedge of shade that covers both the plant display and a generous stretch of sidewalk. From a distance, the layered beams read as a single gesture: a protective arm extended from a building that was never designed to offer one.

What keeps this from feeling like an aggressive annexation of public space is the structure's transparency. The slatted panels and tensioned fabric let light through in patches, so the sidewalk beneath never goes dark. Pedestrians pass freely, cyclists glide by unimpeded, and the flowers get the diffused light they need rather than the full blast of direct sun. It is a negotiation between private commerce and public comfort, resolved through the angle and density of timber members.

Timber Craft at Micro Scale

The detail shots reveal something unexpected for a project this small: genuine structural ambition. The cantilevered ends of the canopy are built up from layered timber beams that recall the dougong bracket sets of traditional Chinese wooden architecture. These are not decorative appliqué. They distribute the load of the overhanging panels and give the whole structure its visual rhythm, a series of stacked, interlocking members that taper toward the sky.

The tensioned fabric and perforated metal panels woven into the timber frame add a second register of texture. Where the wood is warm and directional, the fabric is taut and translucent, catching dusk light in a way that turns the canopy into a lantern at the end of the day. Cable supports keep the hinged awning panels in place while allowing them to pivot, so the shop owner can adjust coverage as the sun moves.

Living with an Existing Building

The residential building above the shop is unremarkable: concrete frame, metal railings, the generic fabric of 1980s Chinese urbanism. Raw Architecture Studio chose not to fight it. The timber canopy slots beneath the second-floor balcony like a drawer sliding into a cabinet, borrowing the existing structure as its upper boundary. No columns were added to the sidewalk, no walls were demolished. The intervention is entirely additive and, in principle, entirely reversible.

That restraint is the project's quiet lesson. The storefront the new owner inherited already had a certain spatial logic: an enclosing wall, a courtyard condition, plants spilling onto the lane. Rather than reimagining the whole interface, the architects identified the single missing element, a proper eave, and delivered it with enough craft to elevate everything around it. The old railings and concrete edges now read as a backdrop for the timber frame rather than as deficiencies.

Day and Night on Ji'e Lane

Two photographs capture the project's dual life. By day, dappled sunlight pours through the louvered panels onto ferns, succulents, and flowering pots, while the shopkeeper tends to inventory. By evening, the warm glow of interior lighting transforms the canopy into a social magnet. Two visitors sit among the plants, coffee in hand, using a space that technically belongs to a commercial operation but feels entirely public.

That shift from retail utility to neighborhood gathering spot is the payoff of the pavilion concept. The ancient roadside shelters the project references were never anyone's private property; they belonged to whoever needed them. Li Eaves replicates that ethos at the scale of a single storefront, proving that even a 10 m² intervention can generate communal life if it is generous with shade and seating.

Modular Logic, Fast Assembly

Every timber component was pre-cut to specification before arriving on site, enabling the entire structure to be assembled in three days through a DIY process. That timeline is not a gimmick; it is a condition of working on a narrow lane where prolonged construction would block traffic and alienate neighbors. The modular approach also positions the design as a replicable template. Other shopkeepers on Ji'e Lane, or any similar street, could adapt the system to their own storefronts without hiring a full construction crew.

The bamboo weaving fabric integrated into the sunshade panels reinforces this accessibility. It is inexpensive, locally available, and carries the right associations for a plant shop: natural, breathable, handmade. Paired with the precision-cut timber, it creates a hybrid of industrial efficiency and artisanal character that feels appropriate for a neighborhood business rather than a boutique design object.

Plans and Drawings

The axonometric joinery details reveal the structural ingenuity hidden inside the canopy's straightforward appearance. Four distinct timber connections handle the transitions between vertical posts, angled beams, and hinged awning panels. Each joint is designed for assembly without specialized tools, reinforcing the project's DIY ethos. The section drawing clarifies how the angled shade panels step down from the balcony soffit to the street edge, creating a gradient of enclosure that is tightest at the building wall and most open at the sidewalk.

The aerial axonometric places the pergola system in its wider context: a dense urban block where the planted terrace becomes a green anomaly visible from above. Meanwhile, the site plan grounds the project in Nanjing's street grid and waterway network, using circular photographic insets to show how the lane connects to the broader city. Together, these drawings argue that Li Eaves is not an isolated gesture but a node in an existing urban system, one that only needed a well-placed eave to come alive.

Why This Project Matters

The contemporary fixation on large-scale urban renewal tends to overlook the street-level interfaces where most city life actually happens. Li Eaves is a corrective. It shows that a timber canopy, a few fabric panels, and three days of assembly can transform an anonymous storefront into a place that attracts people, protects plants, and re-establishes a relationship between building and sidewalk that had been neglected for decades. The reference to ancient roadside pavilions is not nostalgic posturing; it is a functional argument that the smallest civic gestures, shade and shelter, remain the most effective.

For architects working in established neighborhoods, the project offers a useful provocation. Raw Architecture Studio did not demolish, did not add columns to the public right-of-way, and did not spend months on site. They identified the one missing element, built it with precision, and let the neighborhood do the rest. If urban micro architecture is going to become a serious discipline rather than a fashionable label, Li Eaves sets the standard: modest in footprint, rigorous in detail, and generous in what it gives back to the street.

Li Eaves Flower and Plant Shop by Raw Architecture Studio. Located on Ji'e Lane, Nanjing, China. 10 m². Completed in 2024. Photography by Raw Architecture Studio.

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Raw Architecture Studio

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